


Badgers and Snakes

by partofforever (edvic)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Childhood Friends, Hufflepuff Harry, M/M, Riddle at Hogwarts Era, Slytherins Being Slytherins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 18:02:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9778142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edvic/pseuds/partofforever
Summary: “And he’s a Hufflepuff,” Orion added with a grimace. “No way we can stick with him.”“I will.”Harry Potter and Tom Riddle are childhood friends. When Harry gets sorted to Hufflepuff, their relationship is put under pressure.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Strange_Soulmates](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strange_Soulmates/gifts).



> Here I am, doubtfully looking at my work and wondering if it's following the given prompt. I tried to keep it short and sweet and I hope you'll like it @Strange_Soulmates! It was a lot of fun as I've never tried writing Hufflepuff!Harry.

“For an orphan you get surprisingly many letters,” Abraxas Malfoy said, helping himself to another piece of toast with mushrooms. Although other Slytherins were looking at him reproachfully hearing such a brazen remark, the Malfoy hair didn't seem to notice. “Do you have some devotee no one knows about?”

Tom snorted dismissively in response, refraining from commenting on Abraxas' words. They were sharing a room for almost two years now and he has learned that Malfoy took great pleasure in teasing anyone and everyone. If something irritated him, it was only simple disregard.

He put the letter between the pages of his copy of _A History of Magic_ \- this one book was surely safe to keep private correspondence in, considering its size and surprisingly boring content - and got up from the table to look for a some quiet place to read it.

 

* * *

 

 

_Tom!_

_I can't believe you can really turn a frog into a cup! Too bad they don't allow you to use magic outside of school – I'd love to see it... Do you think I'll get a letter from Hogwarts too? Well, we'll know soon, right? I look forward to your return and cross out days on the calendar in the kitchen. Agnes laughs at me and says you definitely have forgotten me and that you have a lot of new friends and that one year you won't come back to London, but it's not true, right, Tom? I didn't forget about you!_

_Nothing particularly interesting happened since yesterday, but I promised to write every day... So far, my handwriting benefited the most from this promise, don't you think? Ms. McArthur, the new teacher can't believe my progress, when she looks at my old notebooks..._

_The owl is getting impatient. Do you know what's her name? Maybe if I tried to talk to her, she'd stop pecking me._

_Good luck on your exams! I know you'll be the best - as always. Remember to eat breakfast, Dr. Shullman visited us last week and said that it's the most important meal of the day._

_See you in three weeks,_

_Harry_


	2. Chapter 2

“Where do you think I'll go?” Harry asked, once again looking at the content of his trunk, although he did it at least ten times already. He had everything he needed - books, parchment, quills, even a kettle...

Who could have predicted that his parents left him a fortune? He was convinced that he was an ordinary orphan, just like Tom or other children living in the dingy building they called home, but it seemed that he was a rather _rich_ orphan.

Tom looked at his younger friend with smile of a man experienced with life and two years spent at Hogwarts:

“Wherever you go, I'm sure you'll love it.”

Harry showed Tom his tongue; he expected a more specific answer.

“I guess I won't end in Slytherin,” he sighed after a while, ending the overview of his new property and sitting on Tom's bed. “I'm not smart enough.”

“I know many Slytherins less intelligent than you,” Tom smiled at him mischievously. “But I also doubt that you're a Slytherin... You're too naive.”

“Naive?” Harry raised his eyebrows, trying to pretend that he had no know idea what his best friend may have meant. “When you're gone, I'm the most cunning resident of this household.”

“Only because you learned from a master."

 

* * *

 

 

“Childhood friends? You don’t strike me as the type to have friends, let alone childhood friends, Tom,” Abraxas looked at the skinny boy who just got sorted with a frown on his aristocratic face. “Where did you meet him? Kindergarten?”

“And he’s a Hufflepuff,” Orion added with a grimace. “No way we can stick with him.”

“I will.”

The silence that followed Tom Riddle’s casual announcement felt like a promise of big changes.

 


	3. Chapter 3

“They don't like me.”

Tom leaned his head on his hands, hearing the obvious pain in Harry's voice.

It has been three years since Harry - as Tom predicted the day they've met - went to Hogwarts. During this time he became a true pride of his house – he was great at flying and for the first time in seventy-three years Huffpuff was able to win the Quidditch Cup. Besides, he was a decent pupil and even though Tom couldn't quite grasp Harry's fondness for Magical Creatures (professor Kettleburn was the only teacher able to horrify him with his recklessness), it couldn't be denied that Harry was talented in other areas too. Even Dumbledore, the one who used to treat Tom with reserve, seemed delighted with Harry's progress. Harry himself hasn't changed much, remaining the same somewhat shy boy whom Tom met many years earlier in the orphanage.

He remembered that day clearly – he was only seven years old and with a little effort could arouse fear in both the caregivers and other children using his wicked skills. Harry was different - whatever happened to him before coming to the orphanage, it had to be a lot scarier than Tom's antics. It was snowing and raining alternately that day and the gray street seemed even more unpleasant than usually. Tom felt as if the fog was trying to invade his little room through the shabby windows, but instead of fog he saw a trembling boy with awkwardly glued glasses.

Tom didn't know when - or why – did he become Harry's protector. He never felt the need to have a friend, but Harry was different - interesting and like himself, but at the same time so very new. Did he feel Harry's magic and was drawn by it? He couldn't answer that question. Initially, it was only the idea of having someone, anyone, who didn't run away from him that made Harry so appealing. Later... later he's found out that he could no longer live without Harry.

That's why the attitude of his fellow Slytherins was so hard to accept. Tom knew he needed them nearly as much as he needed Harry. They had families, fortunes and knowledge that might help him achieve his goals. How could he use Slytherin's heritage, if he was bearing a Muggle name?His legacy had no value. For wizards he was at best a bastard.

“I like you,” he said in the end, trying to smile cheerfully as he wrapped the Hufflepuff scarf around his neck; he stole it from Harry last winter. 


	4. Chapter 4

“Impossible.”

“Unimaginable.”

“Absolutely outrageous.”

Tom looked at a group of sixth-year students with some curiosity. What has made them so distressed? Abraxas Malfoy's birthday party was the main topic throughout the week – even though his parents insisted that he should return home to celebrate, Abraxas decided to stay in school and organize his own party – breaking all the possible rules. He's found an unused class a few ago and thought it would be a perfect fit for a ballroom and all his guests. Last Monday he managed to arrange smuggling a whole barrel of Moon Punch into the school along other treats. The goblin that promised to do so seemed rather shady in Tom's opinion, but Malfoy was desperate to make an impression. Of course, Tom was also involved in preparations - he wanted to be on good terms with Malfoy, so he offered to charm the empty classroom with some guarding wards so they weren't caught. As a Prefect – a Head Boy hopefully - he shouldn't involve himself in such kkkk, but like any Slytherin he calculated. If no one sees us, I'll gain Malfoy's trust without losing the favour of my teachers, Tom thought, looking for complex silencing charms. Harry watched his work with some amusement and ill-concealed fear. Something in him has changed – he was staying close before, but lately... Tom was able to catch staring a few times, as if Harry was trying to memorize each of his smallest gestures. Why would he do so was a mystery for Tom. Although they didn't attend their classes together, they were inseparable. The were always sitting at the same table in the library and even though the Slytherins didn't like Harry, Tom for his part had nothing against Hufflepuffs. If he didn't know how loyal Harry was, he might have begun to worry about his new friends – unlike him, Harry had many friend and was frequently accompanied by one Alastor Moody, a specialist in Defence Agaist Dark Art and throwing extremely unpleasant hexes at Slytherins teasing first-years. Well, maybe people like him were the reason of Slytherins' aversion towards Hufflepuffs.

“I can't organize a party without food.” Abraxas' voice interrupted his reverie and Tom angrily realized an inky blot appeared on his Potion's homework. “And I can't ask my parents for a loan, they've just send me a gift...”

“I told you that you shouldn't trust this goblin,” said Alphard Black, idly stroking his gray cat. “No one can simply bring a barrel of Moon Punch into the school unnoticed.”

Malfoy groaned in frustration groan and fell exhausted on the pillows. He seemed completely hopeless.

“I smuggle a box of chocolate frogs at most.”

Tom smiled at Abraxas' words. The party that seemed more of a chore than pastime suddenly became much more interesting.


	5. Chapter 5

“Where is he?” Tom wondered aloud, waiting for Harry at the door of their secret room.

He found it two years ago, seemingly quite by chance; he just walked down the hall thinking that he must hide Harry's Christmas gift somewhere - the owl found him just before the previously arranged visit to the library and he had no time to go back to the dormitory - and as he thought about it a door appeared in the wall, out of nowhere. Well, doors appearing in the walls shouldn't surprise any student of a school where the stairs were moving and the armours sang Christmas carols, but when Tom saw the inside of a room was full of endless alleys and corridors of books, chairs and brooms, and a whole lot of other things - sometimes difficult to describe - belonging to whole generations of Hogwarts students he couldn't help but wonder. Discreetly he made sure none of his colleagues has heard about the Room of Lost and Found as he began to call it, and even dared to discuss it with Professor Slughorn - no one knew of the existence of this place. It was a perfect shelter. He liked to spend time with Harry, but how many hours could they sit in the library?

“Tom?” He heard Harry's voice coming from the far end of the corridor. “What happened? I thought...”

“Did you get my message? We were supposed to meet at five,” he said, starting the necessary walk to open the secret room. “It's quite urgent.”

“I had to help Alastor.” Harry shrugged his shoulders slightly, trying to keep a neutral tone. He knew Tom tended to get jealous, even if he knew that neither Alastor Moody, nor any other Hufflepuff was so dear for him as Tom was. “Professor Kettleburn...”

“Moody?” Tom chimed in, opening the door the moment it appeared. “Should start to worry about our friendship? You spend a lot of time together...”

“Maybe it's because we're in the same class and the same house?” Harry laughed and sat on a worn-out couch nonchalantly. “Don't worry.”

“If you say so...” He sat next to Harry and ruffled his dark hair, as if he was eleven years old again and was saying goodbye before his first trip to Hogwarts. “Abraxas Malfoy... Hey, why are you wearing my sweater?”


	6. Chapter 6

“Are you sure they will come?”

Tom barely restrained a sigh full of irritation. For the person who should trust him, Abraxas was showing exceptional disbelief.

“I promised you he would come, and he promised it to me,” he replied calmly, though he wanted to shout out that no one, and certainly not Malfoy, has a right to doubt Harry Potter's loyalty. “He never disappointed me.”

The moment he finished his sentence, two shadows appeared at the end of the hall – the thin one had to be Harry, the second - considerably more muscular - Alastor Moody. After a moment the shadows turned into silhouettes, and the silhouettes to students whose Abraxas greeted with a rather rude question:

“Where's the food? You're not carrying anything!”

“Calm down, Malfoy.” Alastor Moody passed by the Slytherin with a face expressing distaste bordering on amusement. “You didn't think we'll bring you silver trays, did you? Do I look like house-elf to you?”

Abraxas was about to answer, perhaps maliciously, but when he opened his mouth, Moody put what looked like a completely normal school bag on the table and proceeded to pull out countless white boxes from the inside. The first one was signed with pate, another fruit, the last one - cake.

“How...” Abraxas wanted to ask when he finally found his oice, but Moody didn't let him finish:

“I could use some help, I won't drag the barrel out on my own.”

“Barrel?”

Tom looked at Harry with admiration. He's promised Abraxas food and drinks, but his Hufflepuff friend managed to organize a barrel of Moon Punch... He didn't expect such involvement, especially after all these years of Abraxas being an absolute cad to Harry.

“I;m on good terms with the house-elves,” Harry whispered in his ear, as if he could read his mind and saw the unspoken question. “Besides, after such a favour Abraxas will have to like me in the end.”

“You know that you are the most important to me no matter what Abraxas thinks,” he said with a smile, pulling Harry closer.

“But he is important to you too.”

An hour and a few glasses of Moon Punch later Abraxas Malfoy found out Alastor Moody was his distant cousin and decided Hufflepuffs were indeed admirable people.


	7. Chapter 7

  
“Quite an enjoyable evening,” Harry said, when the last Slytherin left the room and Tom began to take off his wards. “I never thought that Slytherins could be so... entertaining.”

“Only when we drink a lot,” he replied, returning the chairs and the desk to their former places with a small movement of his wand. “Usually we're only occupied with homework and honours of our families.”

Harry looked at him, tilting his head slightly.

“You're joking, right?” Though he asked, Harry's face expressed some doubts. After a long moment of silence Tom began to laugh, no longer able to keep his seriousness. “You were joking! I nearly believed you!”

Although he tried to back away, Harry began to pummel him with his fists - not to hurt him, but to show his frustration; he was fooled once again. He was truly a Hufflepuff, even after so many years spent with the heir of Salazar Slytherin himself.

Tom didn't realize how and when they reached the open window - the night was cloudless but chilly. Tom felt Harry hugged him tightly, probably trying to protect himself against the cold. Although he wasn't usually fond of touch, Harry wasn't bothering him. At times Tom had the impression he quite liked having Harry so close by his side.

He felt something - someone - pulling him by his shirt collar and saw that Harry was looking at him strangely seriously.

“We won't forget, right?” He asked incomprehensibly. “We won't forget each other?”

“Why would we?” Tom was surprised to hear such a preposterous suggestion. “You're my first friend... My only friend.”

“You're my... Well, you're not my only friend, but certainly my most important friend.” Harry smiled and touched his hand, joining their fingers together. “I won't forget you.”

Smiling softly – a gesture kept for Harry only – Tom kissed the top of Harry's head, thinking that his sweater looked much better on his friend than it did on him.


End file.
